1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a history file generation method and a program, and more particularly to an information processing apparatus that can provide the history information with a history file in a designated data format, a history file generation method applicable to the information processing apparatus, and a program for enabling a computer to perform the history file generation method.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, the image processing apparatus having a print output function or a transmitting/receiving function of image data has been well known in which its operation history (log) is stored to allow the user to acquire the history as a file, as needed.
For example, in a certain digital computing apparatus, an operation to be recorded is extracted, based on a record level indicating the operation contents executed by operation execution means in stages, and the history information of the extracted operation is recorded (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-178285).
Besides, various proposals for a history recording method have been conventionally made.
Also, a certain computer system can output a log file for every date using a dedicated log file generation program (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-328817).
Also, in a log collection rule setting process, a log file format (file format adapted to the application using a log file) can be selected from among a plurality of log file formats (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-207254).
However, conventionally, the format of acquiring the history file such as CSV (Comma Separated Value: data format in which the fields of record are marked off by a comma and the records are marked off by a line feed code) was defined beforehand for each apparatus.
Therefore, the user who acquires and uses the history file had to perform a process of extracting and shaping the necessary information from the acquired file again.